Background: Previous researches have reported that tripartite motif-containing 44 (TRIM44) is related to the prognosis of multiple human tumors. This study was designed to systematically assess the prognostic value of TRIM44 in human malignancies and summarize its possible tumor-related mechanisms.
Methods: The available databases were searched for eligible studies that evaluated the clinicopathological and prognostic roles of TRIM44 in patients with malignancies. The hazard ratios (HR) and odds ratios (OR) were combined to assess the predictive role of TRIM44 using Stata/SE 14.1 software.
Results: A total of 1740 patients from thirteen original studies were finally included in this study. The results of the combined analysis showed that over-expression of TRIM44 protein was significantly correlated with shorter overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.60-2.35) and worse disease-free survival (DFS) (HR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.24-3.65) in cancer patients. Additionally, the combined ORs indicated that elevated expression level of TRIM44 protein was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.69, 95% CI: 1.71-4.24), distant metastasis (OR = 10.35, 95% CI: 1.01-106.24), poor tumor differentiation (OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.03-3.09), increased depth of tumor invasion (OR = 2.72, 95% CI: 1.73-4.30), advanced clinical stage (OR = 2.75, 95% CI: 2.04-3.71), and recurrence (OR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.34-3.95). Furthermore, analysis results using Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) showed that the expression level of TRIM44 mRNA was higher in most tumor tissues than in the corresponding normal tissues, and the relationship between TRIM44 mRNA level and prognosis in various malignant tumors also explored in GEPIA and OS analysis webservers.
Conclusions: TRIM44 may serve as a valuable prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for patients with malignancies.
Keywords: Clinicopathological features; Meta-analysis; Prognosis; TRIM44.